Welcome to Bimmerfest -- The #1 Online Community for BMW related information! Please enjoy the discussion forums below and share your experiences with the 200,000 current, new and past BMW owners. The forums are broken out by car model and into other special interest sections such as BMW European Delivery and a special forum to voice your questions to the many BMW dealers on the site to assist our members!

Seems that everyone likes extra packages/options.
I just got the base xDrive28i without any package/options.
The engine and transmission are the parts that really attract me.
Have it for 3 weeks, love the driving experience except the auto start/stop system which is really frustrating and turning it off is now the first thing I do right I start the engine, and do not care about the lack of "technology".
The weight and range of the steering are just perfect.
Real fun to drive!

Seems that everyone likes extra packages/options.
I just got the base xDrive28i without any package/options.
The engine and transmission are the parts that really attract me.
Have it for 3 weeks, love the driving experience except the auto start/stop system which is really frustrating and turning it off is now the first thing I do right I start the engine, and do not care about the lack of "technology".
The weight and range of the steering are just perfect.
Real fun to drive!

Just browsed others' replies, and seems that throttle hesitation bothers many owners. Since I only drove mine for a few weeks (all local), it seems that not a big issue for me, and I certainly will keep an eye on it in the future.
Not sure about whether adjusting the ECU can help though, but will talk to dealer when getting the ASS off.

When you change the default to OFF, is there a way to manually turn it on?
Scenerio: If you are waiting for a freight train to go by, you could shift to Park and press a button to turn the engine off. Or is it the same if you just shut off the car and manually restart it later?

When you change the default to OFF, is there a way to manually turn it on?
Scenerio: If you are waiting for a freight train to go by, you could shift to Park and press a button to turn the engine off. Or is it the same if you just shut off the car and manually restart it later?

Button still works to enable the ASS, it just defaults to OFF rather than ON. Also if you choose EcoPro it re-enables it.

This is my first post . I leased a white X1 3.5 X-Drive in December. This is my first BMW. What a terrific car! This car handles and accelerates like no other car I have ever driven. Like some of the reviews say, this is a rocket ship. I have 1100 miles on it so far.

A couple of concerns I have are:
1) The push start button is a pain to use to turn vehicle and accessories off. I understand you have to have your foot off of the brake, but that's counter intuitive.
2) There is a rather disconcerting whirring/rattling sound at idle coming from engine compartment when car is warmed up and I come to a stop. The dealer told me this is the number one complaint they hear. Service advisor said it is caused by turbo winding down and there are no bulletins or recalls yet. So, live with it. Anyone else have this problem?

This is my first post . I leased a white X1 3.5 X-Drive in December. This is my first BMW. What a terrific car! This car handles and accelerates like no other car I have ever driven. Like some of the reviews say, this is a rocket ship. I have 1100 miles on it so far.

A couple of concerns I have are:
1) The push start button is a pain to use to turn vehicle and accessories off. I understand you have to have your foot off of the brake, but that's counter intuitive.
2) There is a rather disconcerting whirring/rattling sound at idle coming from engine compartment when car is warmed up and I come to a stop. The dealer told me this is the number one complaint they hear. Service advisor said it is caused by turbo winding down and there are no bulletins or recalls yet. So, live with it. Anyone else have this problem?

If you hold the button down for like 1/2 a second longer when shutting the engine off the accessories will turn off.

Have not noticed any weird noises when coming to a stop, havent really listened that hard though.

Overall, I am very happy with my XDrive 28i. My only option is Mineral Grey. The size has turned out to be perfect for my needs.

Things I don't like:
1. Auto Start Stop. The car noticeably jerks when it restarts. If the wippers are on and it restarts, they will stop for a second or so while it starts.
2. Throttle lag. This is becoming less of an issue. I noticed it for a 2 week period and I think it's getting better.
3. Cup holder locations. Not the one you are thinking of. I don't like the one near the arm rest. It's hard to get to because my seat is more forward then most so I need to reach back to get it. I end up using the passenger cup holder. Cup holders was one thing Homer got right on his car.
4. Intermittent wipers. This is more of me issue. I need to read the manual on how to do this, but shouldn't it be intuitive?
5. My A/C doesn't seem to be as freezing cold as I like it on hot days.
6. So minor, but the open trunk button on my remote isn't ideal. I would like the trunk to kind of "jump" up, instead it is hard to tell if it worked.
7. Manual shifting is counter intuitive. Am I nuts? I went into manual and down shifted to a lower gear for a hill, but moving the shifter towards me actually goes to a higher gear. Is this normal? Did they mess up my car?

Things I like:
1. The perfect size for ski trips and bike trips.
2. The USB connection to listen to music. On one USB drive I can easily listen and navigate through 100s of songs organized by genre, folder, artist, etc.
3. Handeling. It just drives great.
4. Looks.
5. Middle seat folds down to get skis in and still seats 2 in the back.
6. Getting good fuel efficiency compared to previous truck.
7. Great acceleration when on highway.
8. Simplicity of radio air/heat controls.
9. HD radio.
10. When I press the phone icon on the steering wheel, it calls my wife. No idea how/why it does that, but it's perfect since that covers 95% of my phone use cases.
11. Ability to move back seats up to 90 degrees when more room in trunk is needed.
12. Inside looks.
13. Driver's position in car.
14. Good visibility.
15. Good information display of gas mileage.
16. Just so much fun to drive.

The X1 is a good value for a BMW, but there are some minor annoyances that became apparent in the first 200 miles:

1. I am 5'8" and the driver's side mirror does not adjust close enough for me to see the side of the car.
2. The front door sills have these nice looking M-Sport protector plates. But rear door sills have nothing but bare painted metal ready to be scratched by the kids' shoes. Nothing available from BMW accessories neither.
3. The rear seat back has these wide sloping bolsters on either side that force the LATCH hooks to be too close together. As a result, our Recaro child seat does not fit. Our other child seat barely fits but cannot be tightened snugly.
4. The height adjuster on the non-powered seat requires you to hoist yourself up off the chair in order to raise it. Why don't they have a ratcheting adjuster like everyone else?
5. The storage bin in the center arm rest is pretty useless because it's got these contours inside for the cupholder (which is unnecessary because you already have the detachable cup holder there). The Iphone holder takes up even more space.
6. There is no way to lock up the car except with the remote. And there is only 1 button inside to cycle through locking and unlocking the car. Even our old $14000 2004 Scion had lock/unlock buttons on either front door and allowed anyone to lock up the car without the key.
7. No height adjustment for seatbelt anchor. No lights on the sun visor mirrors. You'd think these things are standard on every >$30k car.
8. You store your favorite radio stations carefully in the IDrive presets, only to find out that you have to set them all over again in order to use the 1,2,3…... buttons on the radio itself.
9. There is no water temperature gauge. Lots of cars are missing that nowadays, but at least they give you a little blue light that tells you when the engine is cold. No such light in the X1 though.
10. ASS sounds good in theory. But then the fine print in the manual tells you that using ASS will shorten certain unnamed components' lives.

Now I don't want to be totally negative. There are good things I've enjoyed about the X1 too:
1. The power is great if you don't mind revving the engine above 3000rpm
2. The handling is phenomenal with the sport suspension
3. The sport seats are excellent and supportive
4. Parking sensors are very useful
5. The oil level checker is nice.

10. ASS sounds good in theory. But then the fine print in the manual tells you that using ASS will shorten certain unnamed components' lives.

I didn't see that fine print. I can see why that's the case considering how much the car rattles each time it re-starts. I honestly don't think this should have been implemented until it was more refined. In the meantime, it is easy to turn it off, which is what I do.

The X1 is a good value for a BMW, but there are some minor annoyances that became apparent in the first 200 miles:

1. I am 5'8" and the driver's side mirror does not adjust close enough for me to see the side of the car.

6. There is no way to lock up the car except with the remote. And there is only 1 button inside to cycle through locking and unlocking the car. Even our old $14000 2004 Scion had lock/unlock buttons on either front door and allowed anyone to lock up the car without the key.

9. There is no water temperature gauge. Lots of cars are missing that nowadays, but at least they give you a little blue light that tells you when the engine is cold. No such light in the X1 though.

1, similar mirror problem for me, i have to turn my head much more than what i do when driving other car. 6, actually you can push that little "nut" on each door down manually, i know it is stupid.......7, i do think the water temperature is necessary.

I agree 100% regarding the business radio. However, our 128i redials the last person called through the radio interface when pressing the steering wheel button, not the first in the directory. It is not safe to navigate the radio interface while driving,

The voice recognition system is too cumbersome to bother with (hit speech button and say help for instructions). I wish the speech button on the wheel could activate Siri.

I regret not getting iDrive in the 128i, ordered the X1 with it.

I second that thought. The voice recognition system in the BMW is two generations old. I would like to have Siri answer the request when the phone button is pushed. Instead, I get a half functional system that lets me change settings but won't allow me to dictate a text. My $100 dollar aftermarket radio in my Subaru can do it, why can't BMW? Don't get me wrong, Siri is not perfect but 100% more functional.

1, similar mirror problem for me, i have to turn my head much more than what i do when driving other car. 6, actually you can push that little "nut" on each door down manually, i know it is stupid.......7, i do think the water temperature is necessary.

Mirror issue for me as well. I have had my mirror replaced in the first month thinking it was faulty, but the new one was the same. Someone goofed on the design.

I use to want to just see the door handle of my car in the lower part of the mirror, but after somebody corrected me on how to fix it for blind spot monitoring I found out that I was doing it wrong. The correct way and the way that cars with BSM systems work is as follows in Car and Driver's link. Keep in mind this is a guide and not the absolute rule. YMMV, but for me it was a bit of getting use to before I realized how much better I was off having it this way. Perhaps BMW didn't goof and just set the angle to a min/max on purpose.

I use to want to just see the door handle of my car in the lower part of the mirror, but after somebody corrected me on how to fix it for blind spot monitoring I found out that I was doing it wrong. The correct way and the way that cars with BSM systems work is as follows in Car and Driver's link. Keep in mind this is a guide and not the absolute rule. YMMV, but for me it was a bit of getting use to before I realized how much better I was off having it this way. Perhaps BMW didn't goof and just set the angle to a min/max on purpose.

Agreed. I was taught in performance driving school to adjust the sideview mirrors outwards in order to see your blindspot. It does take some getting used to, but it really is better.

I have my x1 for 2,000 miles and I want to share the NEGATIVES specifically about the X1, and the features in X1 that are also found in other cars. Again, there are a lot other positives, but I am just ranting about the negatives now.

First, a little background about me. I love technology and always try to use and learn the options I buy to their fullest extend. That's why I bought the E60 545i with SMG, HUD... with all the options back in 2004. So I do not fear innovation nor detest changes.

Here are the features that I do not find appealing:

1. No oil dipstick: I am not trying to shoot a dead horse, but I always check my fluids and like to change my own oil. Instead of just puling a dip stick up now I have to go through a lengthy steps: Also it will take 3-5 minutes for the read out to be displayed!

Checking the engine oil level
Your car is equipped with an electronic engine oil level check.
Requirements
***9655; The engine must be running and warm afterthe vehicle has been driven for at least 6.2 miles/10 km.
***9655; The vehicle is stopped or being driven on a level roadway.Display in the instrument cluster
1. Lightly press button 1 in the turn indicator lever up or down repeatedly until the appropriate symbol appears in the display, accompanied
by the word "OIL".
2. Press button 2 in the turn indicator lever.
The oil level is checked and the reading displayed.
3. Oil level is being checked. This can take about 3 minutes if the car is at a standstill on alevel surface, or about 5 minutes while the car is on the
move.

I use one of the program buttons for one touch oil check on my e90. The program keys are one of my favorite items as you can set them for any function in the car.

I use to want to just see the door handle of my car in the lower part of the mirror, but after somebody corrected me on how to fix it for blind spot monitoring I found out that I was doing it wrong. The correct way and the way that cars with BSM systems work is as follows in Car and Driver's link. Keep in mind this is a guide and not the absolute rule. YMMV, but for me it was a bit of getting use to before I realized how much better I was off having it this way. Perhaps BMW didn't goof and just set the angle to a min/max on purpose.

That's like saying you should only drive the speed limit, so BMW won't allow the car to go faster.

If BMW did this on purpose, why did they not do it for the passenger side mirror? That passenger mirror has a much bigger range of viewing. I agree that blind spot control is a good idea and perhaps you should not see the side of your car, but the drivers side mirror should have more freedom of motion if only to satisfy various sizes of drivers.

That's like saying you should only drive the speed limit, so BMW won't allow the car to go faster.

If BMW did this on purpose, why did they not do it for the passenger side mirror? That passenger mirror has a much bigger range of viewing. I agree that blind spot control is a good idea and perhaps you should not see the side of your car, but the drivers side mirror should have more freedom of motion if only to satisfy various sizes of drivers.

So you mean kind of like having a 260 hp engine that can do 180 but having a limiter on it that reaches only 166?

I'm not saying that it is perfect but most of the times that they do the measurements they use test dummies to design viewing angles and positions. Keep in mind they use test dummies that are cut from pretty much the same mold. Most of these dummies don't lean in the chair or tilt back 45 degrees and drive with their knees bent in such a way they barely have room under the steering column. They also probably don't put it in so that the dummy barely reaches the pedals with fully extended legs and tilted to prop themselves just out of the horizontal position that I've seen people drive in. Yes I know these are extreme cases for driver positioning, but range of motion is best achieve from a common norm as far as engineering aspects go. So if you get more range out of your passenger side over your driver side there is a chance you are sitting off to one side more. Add this to your height, seat position, and a number of other factors and the view field is bound to be limited.

As a 5'9 160lb guy and my 5'3 95lb female friend that test drove for me the mirrors were adjusted quiet fine for both the models we drove.

If it bothers people so much they can do what I saw many people in Florida do when they got too old to see over the steering wheel of the car. They put on something like this

So you mean kind of like having a 260 hp engine that can do 180 but having a limiter on it that reaches only 166?

I'm not saying that it is perfect but most of the times that they do the measurements they use test dummies to design viewing angles and positions. Keep in mind they use test dummies that are cut from pretty much the same mold. Most of these dummies don't lean in the chair or tilt back 45 degrees and drive with their knees bent in such a way they barely have room under the steering column. They also probably don't put it in so that the dummy barely reaches the pedals with fully extended legs and tilted to prop themselves just out of the horizontal position that I've seen people drive in. Yes I know these are extreme cases for driver positioning, but range of motion is best achieve from a common norm as far as engineering aspects go. So if you get more range out of your passenger side over your driver side there is a chance you are sitting off to one side more. Add this to your height, seat position, and a number of other factors and the view field is bound to be limited.

As a 5'9 160lb guy and my 5'3 95lb female friend that test drove for me the mirrors were adjusted quiet fine for both the models we drove.

If it bothers people so much they can do what I saw many people in Florida do when they got too old to see over the steering wheel of the car. They put on something like this

So, I think the only explanation is that the engineers at Ford, GM, Subaru, Volvo, Toyota, Mazda, Kia , etc, all got it wrong. And only the BMW engineers figured out that it is forboden to see the side of your car in your drivers side mirror. So they prevented the mirror from going that far to the right.

This is the only car that I've ever driven that has such a restricted range of motion in the mirror.

Even the BMW tech at my dealership agreed and replaced the entire mirror assembly to no avail.

Its funny you mentioned Kia. They were the only ones that I had problems pushing the mirrors out past the door handles. I haven't had any issues with the X1 and am awaiting my order right now. I found that the Kia and the Hundyai both had issues on their folding mirrors that were similar to some of the complaints here. With that said, in the same vehicle other people I went test driving with didn't have that issue.

I'm not defending BMW's engineers, I'm just saying even the best made cars don't always fit everyone. That is probably why you don't see Yoa Ming driving a mini or a fiat and you don't see Peter Dinklage sporting a Bugatti Veyron.

Many many years ago there was an article in one of the auto magazines that explained why we all were adjusting our mirrors incorrectly. Several years ago, there was an article in the AAA Magazine that pretty much said the same thing. If the mirrors are adjusted properly, there is not going to be a blind spot. I mean while the car is moving forward. It is very strange when you first set you mirrors this way and I bet it will take weeks to get used to it but it does work.